1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a beverage can of aluminum or iron for storing beverage therein (high or low carbonated beverage), which comprises an easy-to-open stopper used to discharge the beverage to the outside.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional beverage cans in wide use consist, as publicly known, of a body whose top is open and a lid which is fixed on the top of the body to keep the drink sealed up inside; wherein, the stopper is made in the form of slit grooves on the lid which latter is fixed on the top of the body to keep the drink tightly sealed up inside, and the stopper is cut open along the incision grooves when external pressure is applied, the opening of the stopper being carried out by lifting with fingers the tab fixed by a hinge on the top of the beverage can to serve as a lever, that is, when the tab is lifted upwards the part on the converse side across the fulcrum presses the stopper to make it fall downward, being cut along the incision grooves, thus an opening is provided for passage of the drink.
However, in the above structure, the tab and the lid making use of the principle of a lever are formed in close contact with each other and, therefore, a user often has to insert his or her finger nail between lid and tab to lift the latter. Sometimes a fingernail breaks. When the nails are cut short, it proves practically impossible to open a can. If a user has to open several beverage cans in repetition, his or her fingernail may become strained, even wounded. Indeed, it is problematic to say the least to open several cans at a time.
Although the tab used to open a beverage can is fixed onto the lid with a hinge, it has to be lowered again for the drink to be taken, once the can is opened, the part of the hinge bends and is apt to break easily.
The tab, breaking away, sometimes at the inadvertency of a user sinks to the bottom of the drink, which is unhygienic. Otherwise, broken tabs, not sinking to the bottom, are simply thrown away by users who hardly bother to keep them for separate collection for recycling. This adds to environmental problems. Collectors of discarded cans for recycling would not care for separate collection of can tabs heedlessly thrown away everywhere.
And for the tab fixed onto the lid to slit open the can, it uses the principle of a lever. Fixing of a tab invariably requires use of more material stuffs, which adds to the costs and an extra step of work of fixing the tab with a hinge.
The present invention was devised to solve these problems. It is an invention intended to provide a beverage can, which can be opened, with no tab formed upon the lid.
The present invention is to provide a beverage can, whose stopper can easily be opened only with a little external pressure of a finger.
The features of the easy-open can according to the present invention, intended to achieve such objectives as described above, are that the can in relation to having a body and a lid fixed on its top comprises as follows:
a protrusion for preventing depression, formed in a given shape on the top of the lid;
a stopper, which, formed inside the protrusion for preventing depression, opens;
a pressure surface, which, joining the elevated surface of the protrusion for preventing depression at either one side and slants lower as it approaches the center of the protrusion for preventing depression to connect with the stopper;
a first incision groove, which, formed between the protrusion for preventing depression, minus the pressure surface, and the stopper, is to cut slit at external pressure applied to the pressure surface;
a first bending section, which bends from the pressure surface to extend to an end of the stopper;
a bending groove, which is formed on the first bending section and bends an end of the stopper, when the pressure surface is pressed; and
a second bending section, which bends when an end of the stopper bends along the bending groove; while,
the protrusion for preventing depression, formed in a given shape on the top of the lid, is rendered higher in the part where it is connected with the pressure surface and lower in the converse part;
the protrusion for preventing depression is formed in a projecting circle in the part where its height is lower;
a second incision groove is formed in a given shape in addition between the first bending section, which bends under outside pressure and the protrusion for preventing depression;
one or more additional incision grooves, which is incised under external pressure are formed between the protrusion for preventing depression and the stopper;
one or more buffer grooves are formed on the stopper, which is connected with the protrusion for preventing depression, bordering on the first slitting section;
the first incision groove is formed on the corners of the end of the protrusion for preventing depression, the end of which is elevated from where the height of the protrusion is the lower;
the corner, formed on the first incision groove, is one or more in number;
a number of reinforcement protrusions are formed above the pressure surface, which applies external pressure to the first incision groove;
the first bending section, which extends from the pressure surface to an end of the stopper, is formed in the shape of a protrusion;
the first bending section extends further to a corner of the first incision groove; and,
the first incision groove, which is formed between the stopper and the protrusion for preventing depression, is characteristically formed downwards from a corner to the central area and in an upward curse from the central area to the end part.